Opera's Ageless Appeal

More Young Adults Finding Pleasure In Music Theater

September 28, 1997|By DAVID NICHOLSON Daily Press

As a district court judge in Virginia Beach, Pamela Hutchens Albert hears defendants daily whose actions are driven by love, sex and death.

Still, the former Newport News resident is looking forward to Virginia Opera's opening performance on Friday. Opera has been using these themes for centuries, and attending a performance is far more entertaining.

"I enjoy the combination of the emotions that are involved, whether it's drama or comedy, coupled with the fact that it's set to beautiful music sung by beautiful voices," says Albert.

Albert, who is 38, has been a Virginia Opera board member for several years. She's part of a growing generation of opera-goers who have discovered this age-old art in their 20s and 30s, say local and national opera officials.

Sometimes, Will Browning can snag opening-night tickets from his parents, Wilson and Jane Browning, who also are Virginia Opera board members. But the 28-year-old Norfolk resident also enjoys going with friends to a Sunday matinee when it's not so crowded.

"It's a nice place to take a date other than a movie," he says. "It does seem that more and more young couples are going to the opera."

Though there are no hard figures to support Browning's hunch, a survey conducted by the National Endowment for the Arts suggests he may be right. It found that attendance at opera performances among 18- to 24-year-olds rose by 18 percent between 1982 and 1992. That study also showed that opera was the only one of the traditional performing arts to have increased among that age group.

While Virginia Opera hasn't done extensive research on audience demographics, the company did survey audience members during last season's production of "The Magic Flute." Of those responding, 20 percent were in the 20- to 40-year-old age bracket.

Marc Scorca, president of Opera America, a Washington, D.C., service organization for the 124 opera companies in North America, believes that young people relate to what he calls the "aesthetic complexity of opera" - the mix of words, music, costumes, sets and emotions.

"For young people, there's a resonance between the multi-medium world we live in and the multi-media art form that is opera," he says.

Albert and Browning agree.

"It's so multi-faceted," says Albert. "There's so much there to enjoy during the course of a performance."

"You get a little bit of everything," says Browning. "The singing is high quality, and the theater and backdrops are beautiful."

Scorca also sees a parallel between opera and the music videos that have captivated 20-something TV viewers.

"Music videos deal in passionate statements about love and loss," he says. "They express these emotions in larger-than-life ways just like opera."

Opera also has similar ties to movies, says Peter Mark, Virginia Opera's general director.

"Young people are used to the skill of movie music," says Mark. "But opera music delivers a much more powerful experience."

Kimberly Lee, 21, of Portsmouth, used to enjoy listening to musical theater. But as her voice developed, the Christopher Newport University music major started listening to opera.

"It's magical," she says. "There's a sheer power behind the performance."

If opera seems like an odd choice for this age group, consider these other influences on a generation bombarded with media messages:

* In the last five years, says Scorca, more than 50 commercials have featured opera arias or spoofed operatic themes.

* The introduction of supertitles (Virginia Opera calls its version "Digi-titles") provides English translation for operas sung in any language.

"I think the supertitles really do help," says Albert. "If you don't speak the language, they enhance it and make it much more enjoyable."

* The growth of opera broadcasts on television and the mass-marketing of opera superstars such as the Three Tenors - Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras - have made opera more accessible.

* Today's relaxed dress codes make it possible for people to attend a performance without dressing up.

* Opera productions have become more theatrical, says Scorca, with video images and state-of-the art lighting.

* At the same time, opera casts have become more realistic. Mark's performers are all in their 20s and 30s, and his "Butterfly" is Kaori Sato, a young Japanese soprano.

Mark, who is conducting the company's opening production, believes "Madame Butterfly" is the perfect opera for this age group.

"It's about young people and the situations they are in, which is first love and innocence," he says.

Puccini's Italian opera, set in turn-of-the-century Japan, is the story of Cio-Cio-San, a 15-year-old Japanese girl who marries a young American Naval officer named Pinkerton. Part of the story involves the girl's leaving her family, says Mark, which is another aspect that young people can identify with.

Young people often don't understand that the value of art is in self-discovery by seeing something on the outside and relating it to your own experience," says Mark.